RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has identified 37 low-performing schools as Priority schools that must engage state-approved turnaround partners to help design and implement school-reform models that meet state and federal requirements. Another 73 schools, designated as Focus schools, must employ state-approved, school-improvement coaches. The designations are based on student achievement and outcomes during 2012-2013.

Under a two-year flexibility waiver granted in 2012 by the US Department of Education (USED), interventions under the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act – also known since 2001 as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – are focused on Virginia’s lowest-performing schools.

The waiver granted Virginia schools relief from outdated NCLB-era rules and requires the state to designate the lowest-performing five percent of Title I schools as Priority schools. Another 10 percent of Title I schools are identified as Focus schools based on the achievement of historically low-performing subgroups. Title I of NCLB provides funding for schools with high percentages of low-income students.

The waiver also sets annual measurable objectives (AMOs) for narrowing achievement gaps in reading, mathematics and high school graduation rates. The AMOs serve as yearly progress goals for students in low-performing schools. Higher-performing schools are to improve or maintain achievement levels.

“It is important to consider the increased rigor of Virginia’s new reading and mathematics Standards of Learning (SOL) tests before making conclusions about schools that missed annual objectives,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright said. “Virginia has raised the bar to prepare students for the realities of the 21st century. Our challenge – from the superintendent’s office to the classroom – is to make sure students have the instruction and interventions they need to achieve the commonwealth’s college- and career-ready expectations, regardless of who they are or where they live.”

Status

Priority Schools

Focus Schools

Met All Requirements (Does Not Include Priority or Focus Schools)

Did Not Meet All Requirements

New
Schools

Total

Improvement Plan Required

Improvement Plan Not Required

Number of Schools

37

73

715

459

534

10

1,828

Forty-one percent, or 743 of the commonwealth’s 1,828 schools – including one of the 37 Priority schools and 27 of the 73 Focus schools – met all of the objectives. Since Priority and Focus schools comprise set percentages of Title I schools, it is possible for a school to meet all AMOs and receive one of these designations. Twenty-five percent, or 459 schools, must implement improvement plans to raise the achievement of student subgroups that fell short of one or more benchmark pass rates. No plans are required for 534 higher-performing schools that met all of the annual benchmark pass rates but experienced slight declines in the performance of one or more subgroups.

The AMOs represent the percentage of students within each demographic subgroup that must pass SOL tests in reading and mathematics in order to make what the state board and USED define as acceptable progress toward reducing – and ultimately closing achievement – gaps. High schools must also meet benchmarks for raising graduation rates.

“In setting the objectives, the Board of Education started with actual achievement on the new SOLs in our lowest-performing schools and then created goals that require the students who are farthest behind to make the largest annual gains,” Board of Education President David M. Foster said. “The AMOs are challenging but achievable goals that, if met, will considerably reduce achievement gaps, while holding schools accountable for continuous improvement for all students.”

Ten schools designated as Priority schools during 2012-2013 exited this status for the just-commenced 2013-2014 school year as they are no longer among the lowest-performing five percent of Title I and Title I-eligible schools. These schools are as follows:

Alexandria – T.C. Williams High

Brunswick County – James S. Russell Middle

Colonial Beach – Colonial Beach High

Grayson County – Fries School

King and Queen County – Central High

Norfolk – William H. Ruffner Middle

Petersburg – Peabody Middle and Vernon Johns Junior High

Prince Edward County – Prince Edward County High

Roanoke – Westside Elementary

“All of these schools have made gains in collaboration with lead turnaround partners that were assigned as a result of corrective action plans approved by the state Board of Education or as a condition for receiving federal school-improvement grants administered by VDOE,” Wright said. “However, students in several former Priority schools continue to perform well below state accreditation standards. And two former Priority schools, Peabody Middle and Ruffner Middle, and two current Priority schools, Jefferson-Houston Elementary and Lafayette-Winona Middle, are on the list of schools that could come under the authority of the Opportunity Educational Institution.”

The 37 schools identified as Priority schools for 2013-2014 are:

Alexandria – Jefferson-Houston Elementary

Buckingham County – Buckingham County Elementary and Buckingham County Primary

Roanoke’s Lincoln Terrace Elementary was the only Priority school to meet all AMOs.

Focus schools retain their designation for a minimum of two years – unless they are subsequently identified as Priority schools or no longer receive federal Title I funding. Twenty-seven of the Focus schools identified in the fall of 2012 – and that retain this status for 2013-2014 – met all AMOs for reading, mathematics and graduation.

“Every student subgroup in these schools met its achievement goal on the new reading SOLs and every subgroup improved and met its AMO in mathematics as well,” said Wright. “I congratulate the teachers, principals and other educators in these schools and the VDOE-assigned coaches who helped them achieve this success.”

Additional information on the progress of Virginia schools and divisions toward meeting the goals of the commonwealth’s NCLB flexibility waiver is available on the Federal Accountability page of the VDOE website.